Does Israel deserve the blame?

12:00AM BST 12 Oct 2000

SIR - Ariel Sharon was the army commander who sealed off the villages of Sabra and Chatila after which 2,000 innocent civilians were massacred.

To allow him to walk to the Al Aqsa mosque complex with thousands of Israeli troops is a grotesque provocation. As for the young boy dying in the "crossfire" - anyone who witnessed the France 2 footage will know that to be nothing more than a lie.

The Israeli authorities confirmed troops in the Netzarim post had powerful binoculars and M-16 rifles with telescopic sights. They have seen a terrified child and his father screaming for them to stop; the rest of the world did. After that they killed the ambulance driver who tried to help them.

The fact that, for once, a UN declaration that reproaches Israel has not been vetoed by its best friend, America, is testament to the fact that this round of bloody violence is squarely on Israeli hands.